May `97 ~~~ "Nick! I can't believe you did that!" Maria yelled at Nick. They were standing on a small bridge that went over a local stream. "It's not my fault! It slipped" Nick replied. Since they both were seniors, they had to take a parenting class. The teacher gave them dolls that acted like a real baby, Nick dropped the baby carrier into the stream, with the doll inside and it sunk. "What are we going to do? We need a good grade to pass that class other wise, we have to go to summer school" Maria said pissed off. "I'll go get it" Nick said taking off his shirt and diving off of the bridge into the stream before Maria cloud stop him. Maria looked over the edge and saw that Nick didn't come up. She ran down to the stream. Nick was sitting in the water, out of it. "Nick? What's wrong" Maria asked kneeling down next to him. "The stream is swallow, I hit my head, it hurts" Nick cried. "I could have told you that. Are you alright" Maria asked concerned. "My head hurts, really bad" Nick said in a little boy voice. "Should I call 911?" Maria asked. "No! They already know me, and will automatically call my parents, before a doctor even sees me" Nick said. "Call Kevin, he will know what to do, since we have been threw stuff like this before" Nick added.

An hour later~~~ "here" Kevin said handing Nick an ice pak. Nick took it and put it on his head. "Let me get this straight. Nick you jumped off the bridge and hit your head on the bottom of the stream cause it's shallow. You did all of this because of some doll" Kevin asked. Nick nodded. "It's for a parenting class. The doll acts like a real baby" Maria said. "Maria, why did they give you a doll, you have Nick. He acts like a baby" Kevin said. "Hey" Nick interjected. "I'm sorry we had to call you" Maria said. "You weren't busy or anything were you" Nick asked. "I was on my way to my girlfriend's place, then we were getting on a plane to Hawaii. She's not too happy" Kevin said. "I'm sorry"Maria replied. "I should make Nick listen to her yell, right" Kevin asked. "Go ahead I don't care" "You really aren't going to have me listen to her yell, are you" Nick asked. "No, nick but I really should" Kevin said. "Wait, how did you already talk to her?" Nick asked. "While maria was "helping" you in the shower" Kevin said. Both Nick and Maria turned red. "Nick said that you would know what to do, because of what happened on the 1st tour. What did he do" Maria asked. "Kev, no don't tell her" Nick said. "Why what happened" Maria asked even more interested. "Nick did some very interesting things and some very strange things' Kevin said. "Like what" "Nick was learning how to shave. So he went to practice on Brian, while he was sleeping. Right above Brian's lip, there is a little scar. Nick did that" Kevin said. "He also went threw, mine, AJ's and Howie's bags and took all of the condoms that where in there. He got most of the from AJ. And he made water balloons out of them" Kevin said laughing. Maria started cracking up. "Nobody would let me buy regular water balloons" Nick said. "There was a reason for that" Kevin said. "On the 2nd tour in Europe with Katie, he took her hair dryer and used it to try his clothes. It broke. He took 1 of lipsticks. And went around to each of the hotel rooms and snuck in and drew on everybody's faces" Kevin said. "Yup" Nick said proudly. "And that was when I walked in on somebody getting some" Nick said looking at Kevin who turned red. "A day later they broke up" Nick told Maria. "Ok, Nick you are obviously feeling better, so why don't I take you 2 home" Kevin said. "No!" They both said. "My parents are leaving in the morning for LA, so I want to go home when they aren't there" Nick said. "My parents and brothers are in Croatia right now, so Nick would just be over at my house" Maria said. "So, I'm taking you home, then I'm going to go to my girlfriend's" Kevin said. "You can go 1 night without getting any" Nick said. "Nick she leaves to go to Sweden in 5 days...for 2 months. I'm not going to see her for those 2 months" Kevin said. "Oh, well we can stay here. And you can just go to her place" Nick said. "You actually think, I am going to leave you here Nick, unsupervised will I am in Tampa"Kevin asked. "You didn't say anything about Maria" Nick said. "She's not you, Nick" Kevin said. "Fine, I guess you can take us to Maria's house' Nick said. "I still can't believe I'm going to fail because of you" Maria said looking at Nick. "It's 1 grade big deal" Nick replied. "I need a good grade in this class to graduate, dumbass" "Maria, I'll talk to your teacher and say that it's all Nick's fault and you had nothing to do with it ok" Kevin said. "Thanks" Maria said looking at Kevin, then turned to look at Nick and stuck her tongue out. A week later~~~Maria passed the class with an A- and Nick got a D-.

About a month later~~~The single "Quit Playing Games" hit number 1 on the billboard charts. The guys manager quickly put together a 2 month tour of the U.S. They guys were in NY. Maria took Nick over to NJ, and showed him around. A couple of weeks before, her and Nick graduated high school. Maria graduate with honors, but Nick barely made the grade that you needed in order to graduate. Sandy was with Brian, shopping in NYC. Howie and his girlfriend went somewhere and AJ went to a tattoo place and then to find some "company." This left Kevin all alone at the hotel. He was upset and lonely because all of the other guys had their girlfriends or companions, while his girlfriend was over in Europe.

Later that night~~~Everybody came back. AJ came back with nobody, and he was pissed. "Kevin! We're back!" Nick yelled. "Don't yell" Brian scolded. "But, I don't think they heard him in Orlando" AJ said laughing. Brian saw that Kevin's bedroom door was open, as well as the bathroom. "He's not here" Brian said. "Good maybe when he comes back, he will be in a better mood" Nick replied. "Nick, it's sweet that he misses his girlfriend and loves her enough not to cheat on her" Maria said. "I don't understand the last part" AJ said. "Ok, say he did cheat on her with another girl, his girlfriend won't find out" AJ added. "Maybe she won't, but he will start to feel really guilty" Brain replied. "And how do you know that" AJ asked. "I'd rather not talk about it" Brian replied.

The next morning~~~Everybody was eating breakfast and watching T.V. Nick and Maria were annoying everybody else, by feeding each other, and calling each other by honey-bunny or cutie-pie, or something else that was just as disgusting. "That's disgusting" AJ said looking at the 2. "Will you 2.....woah look at what the cat dragged in" AJ added. Kevin walked into the kitchen. His clothes were all wrinkled, his hair a mess, and one huge goofy ass grin on his face. "Hi Kevin" Sandy said. He didn't say anything back, instead he got a bowl of cereal and sat down in the only available sit, which was next to Nick and Maria. By now, Maria was in Nick's lap. "If those 2 don't get his attention what will" AJ said. "Oh honey-bunny, I love you so much" Nick said kissing Maria. "Kevin! Make them stop!" AJ yelled. "Leave them alone, they are in love" Kevin replied looking at his food. He still had the grin on his face. "Ok, who was she" AJ asked grinning. "You wish you knew, but I'm not saying anything" Kevin replied. Just then there was a knock on the door. AJ got up to answer it. "Hi! AJ!" Katie said as AJ opened the door. "This is my worst nightmare and more" AJ replied letting her in. "What is?" Katie asked. "Everybody is getting more than me, even Nicky. And my sister just showed up" AJ told her. "I thought you were in Europe" Nick asked as he saw her. "I was, but I got done with my recording earlier than planned. I heart that you guys were in NY, so I came by" Katie explained. "She loves us" Nick said. "Nick, I came to my rent on my apartment here and surprise my boyfriend, then I cam here" Katie added. "So you don't love us" Nick asked. "Of course, I love you guys, well maybe everyone except for AJ" Katie said laughing. "Wait a minute, Katie you have an apartment here" AJ asked. "Yeah" "is it big enough for all of us to stay in" "If somebody slept on the sofa bed....wait a minute it's broke last night" Katie said blushing a little. "So, Nick and Maria can stay here and we can stay there" AJ said. "No, my boyfriend is going to be there" Katie replied. "Please, those two are driving everybody crazy" Brian said. "I'm sorry, but my boyfriend is going to be there and we want to um you know" Katie said. "How did the sofa bed break, Katie" AJ asked. "The legs snapped in half" Katie replied. "How did they snap in half?" "Blame my boyfriend, he couldn't wait until we got into my bedroom" Katie replied turning a little red. "I don't understand, how could your couch break" Nick asked. "Oh my god! You're serious" Katie said looking wide eyed at Nick. "You're hiding something from me" AJ said. "Who me?" Katie asked. "Uh-huh, I'll figure it out. Just give me some time" AJ said. "By the time you figure it out, we will probably be married and have at least 1 kid and maybe another on the way" Katie said laughing. The guys started making catcalls. "If I had my own apartment, I'd share it with you guys" AJ replied. "Blue-hair, tattooed freak" Katie shot back. "That's it" AJ yelled and lunged at Katie. He knocked her to the ground and punched her...hard. Then she punched him back, and the two started fighting each other. Nick and Kevin pulled the two apart. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves" Brian yelled. "He started it" "She started it" "Katie, your lip is bleeding" Nick said. Katie put her hand on her face and a wad of blue hair fell to the ground. "My hair" AJ cried. Katie went into the bathroom and ten minutes came out. "Are you alright" Kevin asked. " Katie nodded. "I know why you don't want us to come over to your apartment, your ashamed of your boyfriend" AJ said. "If I was ashamed of him, would I do this" Katie asked, walking over to where somebody was sitting. She climbed into his lap and kissed him very passionately.